Paperthin Hymn
by RJ Lewis the II
Summary: Griffin didn't understand the seriousness of the situation until she came along and showed him, first hand. See profile for author note.
1. When your only friends are hotel rooms

Redone: Sunday, June 08, 2008

**Redone: Sunday, June 08, 2008**

**--**

_When your only friends are hotel rooms_

The rain was pouring heavily, drenching the entire city within minutes after the clouds came to empty themselves onto the unsuspecting crowds below. The news reports had said nothing of a heavy down pouring that morning on the television, but then again when was the weatherman ever right? Many of the people who had been unfortunate enough to be walking the streets when the clouds had started to pour rain upon them had quickly gone to seek refuge in nearby stores or office buildings to get away from becoming completely soaked to the bone.

However, one of the few people unaffected by the weather walked calmly down the side walk, looking as though the huge droplets of rain were mere tear drops. The girl, around the age of seventeen, seemed not to notice the pouring rain that had effectively soaked her clothes and drenched her curling brown hair. While many of the people that passed her on the sidewalk had attempted to cover their heads from the rain with newspapers or briefcases, the girl didn't seem to mind the weather in the slightest.

She crossed the street by use of the crosswalk and continued on her way, almost oblivious to the happenings around her. Her pace was slow and careless, like the girl had nothing better to do than walk down the streets of Boston halfway through a day in which she should have been attending school. Her worn down shoes, a pair of black converse, squished on the wet pavement, probably soaked completely through themselves. But even the uncomfortable feeling of soaked socks didn't seem to faze the girl.

After ten minutes of walking through the almost barren sidewalks, the girl finally entered a small coffee shop leaving the rain behind. The bell above the door dinged as she walked in and took a seat up at the counter on one of the swivel stools. She dropped the messenger bag that been hanging from her shoulder on the floor beside her and let her head fall to the counter with a loud clunk.

"Alice, how many times to I have to tell you not to do that?"

The voice came from directly above the girl in a motherly voice, cutting through the dull hum of the customers that filled almost every seat in the room. The girl, Alice, didn't pay any attention to the woman and lifted her head to drop back onto the counter once again, just for the fun of it. The man sitting on the stool next to her, who was reading the Boston Times, gave her an odd look.

"That kills brain cells," the voice called to her again, this time further away. "You're already failing all of your classes, including PE, so I don't think losing anymore brain power would be in your best interest." The statement was said in a joking manner, but with a hint of seriousness.

Alice lifted her head to glare at a blond haired woman, around nine years older than herself. She was tall, beautiful, and had in Alice' opinion the most gorgeous green eyes on the face of the planet. Sarah was also the almost exact opposite of her younger sister. Alice had dark brown hair, deep blue eyes that she had gotten from their mother, and wasn't any taller than five-five.

"Are all older sisters this annoying?" Alice groaned as she reached over the side of the counter and grabbed a coffee mug. She held it out to her sister with a pleading look when Sarah came back from wiping down the tables.

She shrugged and took the mug, filling it to the brim with steaming hot coffee. "It's in the job description," her hand disappeared beneath the counter and came back into view with a towel in it. Sarah threw it at Alice, who stared as it landed a few inches away from her coffee mug. "You're dripping all over the floor. Carl will have your head if he sees the mess you've made."

Carl was both the owner of the small coffee shop that Sarah worked at, and also the two sister's landowner. They had been renting out the flat directly above the shop for almost four years, ever since Alice had come to live with her older sister. Their parents had died in a car accident, leaving Alice in her then twenty four year old sister's care. Carl had been Sarah's boss for two years already, and insisted she rent out the apartment and become the assistant manager of the shop.

He also happened to completely love both Sarah and Alice like his own granddaughters. Most of his family lived on the west coast, leaving him alone for the holidays. It hadn't taken many holidays to go by before he invited the Klein sisters to dinner at his small apartment across town. It wasn't quite as good as the memories from either of the girls' childhoods, but was definitely a close second best.

"Carl loves me too much to be mad," Alice smirked; taking a deep breath in, the smell of the fresh coffee invaded her senses. "It's only a little water anyways."

Sarah just looked at her and shook her head. "Why aren't you at school?"

Alice took a delicate sip of her coffee, choosing to look anywhere other than at her older sister. She wasn't looking extremely forward to explaining to Sarah, who had been a straight A student herself, that she was effectively failing every single one of her classes. That morning just before third hour, her principle had called her to the office and had pretty much spelled out that Alice was going to have to repeat her junior year. She'd been sent back to class, but instead the girl in question had chosen to skip the rest of the day instead.

In all honesty, Alice could care less about her schoolwork. She didn't have any plans for the future. If it weren't for the fact that Sarah wanted her to graduate, Alice would have already dropped out of school and simply gotten her GED. But she'd wanted to give Sarah a reason to be proud of her.

However, it had turned out easier said than done.

"I kinda' need to talk to you about that," Alice said finally with a sigh, still not looking at her older sister. She looked around the coffee shop, taking in almost every one of the booths and tables were filled with patrons. This wasn't something Alice wanted to tell in public, but then again there would be more witnesses to condemn Sarah in the murder of an innocent seventeen year old.

Sarah, who had been cleaning the counter with a bleached rag, stopped and looked at the younger Klein seriously. "What did you do?"

Alice gave her sister an affronted look, setting down her coffee cup. "Why do you automatically assume that I've done something wrong? Maybe I saved a hobo today from being run over by a semi truck and that's why I'm not at school! Would it honestly be _that_ shocking if I did something heroic? You should be ashamed of yourself Sarah. You know what they say about assuming, makes an as-" The stern look Sarah was shooting her shut Alice up quickly. "Riiiiight. You wanna go upstairs and talk?"

--

The reaction from her sister was almost exactly like it had been in Alice' imagination. Although Sarah hadn't thrown anything like she'd expected, she had yelled for around ten minutes without seeming to stop for air. It had resulted in a permanent grounding until Sarah saw grades improving and the promise of a meeting with her principle.

Overall, it had actually gone over better than she'd originally expected.

After Sarah had returned to the shop below, Alice had changed out of her still drenched school clothes of jeans and a tee into a comfy worn pair of sweats from her latest season of softball and plain oversized green hooded sweatshirt. The perfect attire for an afternoon of leisure. She wasn't planning on doing anything much with the rest of her day, watch some TV, surf the internet, possibly go down to shop to mingle with the regulars.

Nothing too special or out of the ordinary for her.

She was flipping through the channels on the television a few hours later when Alice heard the buzzer sounding that meant someone was waiting downstairs to be let in. She stood up slowly; silently hoping that by the time she reached the intercom, the person downstairs would've given up and walked away. When the buzzer rang again when Alice finally got to the intercom, she was disappointed to find the person hadn't.

"Who is it?" She asked almost carelessly.

It was a seventy-five percent chance that it was Terrence, Sarah's boyfriend of six months. Another twenty percent to Carl coming to check up on her and Sarah since today was his self given day off, and the last five to Lorraine, Alice' best friend since moving to Boston.

"Let me in kid," a rough voice called to her through the gravely speaker. And the prize goes to Terrence. "I brought Chinese."

Upon hearing his declaration of food brining, Alice didn't hesitate to ring him in. She unlocked the front door on her way to the miniscule sized kitchen and heard Terrence let himself in as she pulled out a stack of paper cups.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Alice yelled when Terrence's footsteps started fading away further away from her, probably guessing she was in the den with the television. She heard a grunt of acknowledgement and shook her head.

She and Terrence weren't what some would call 'best friends' but got along fairly well despite their lack of love towards one another. Sarah had made it clear from the beginning that they both meant a lot to her, and wouldn't allow herself to be torn between them. They both shared a love of movies and it was only on the rare occasion that Sarah would come back from closing down the shop not to see them sitting in front of the television, watching one movie or another.

Horror flicks were a must.

Grabbing the plastic cups and a jug of fruit punch out of the fridge, Alice headed out of the kitchen and into the den where a Terrence was looking through the movies on a bookshelf against on of the walls. He was a tall man, sizing around six-two without a lick of fat on him. His perfectly white teeth contrasted greatly with the dark color of his skin, given to him by his African heritage.

He had dumped the take-out on the short coffee table in front of the television, which he had turned to the news while searching for a movie. Curling up on the red couch that sat facing the television, Alice picked at the box of take-out she'd grabbed and half attentively watched the news.

There was an ongoing police chase happening on the highway just outside of town. A news caster's voice was being overlaid the live feed of the chase. A half dozen or so police cars were speeding behind a sleek red convertible which was somehow expertly weaving between the hordes of cars all starting on their way home. She almost laughed as the camera zoomed in on flying dollar bills that were all tearing out of the front seat of the convertible, leaving the highway littered with hundreds of dollars.

Alice was about to call to Terrence to watch the chase with her when his cell phone rang. She shrugged her shoulders when he stood up and started to whisper into the mouth piece, his back to her. Terr worked for a security company for some big firm downtown and they always called him at weird hours for a reason unknown to Alice.

The chase on the television was slowly turning in the driver's favor; somehow he was able to get a good amount of distance between himself and the cops, at least a few city blocks.

"Terr," Alice said finally, too enthralled by the speeding chase to care that he could be in the middle of an important call. "You gotta watch this!"

A smack to the back of the head told her to shut up and she said nothing more as Terrence went back to his phone call. A few seconds later he flipped his phone shut and reached to pull his coat off from the back of the couch, catching Alice' attention.

"Where you going?" She asked, turning around to look over the back of the couch to see him pulling on the jacket and digging inside his jean pockets for his keys. "You just got here!"

Terrence spared her an annoyed look as he patted himself down, still searching for his keys. "My boss called. I gotta go in for a few hours," he told her, a triumphant look coming over his face when he finally located his keys on the coffee table right next to the take-out. He reached over the back of the couch and snatched them up, hurrying towards the front door. "Tell Sarah I'll call her later tonight. Later, shrimp."

Before Alice could give any sign of acknowledgement Terrence was out the door, leaving her staring at where his back had been seconds before. She shrugged and turned back to the television, where the news had moved onto other pieces besides the high speed chase which had ended when the cops lost sight of the speeding car.

How six cop cars "lost sight" of a speeding offending car while a news chopper followed overhead was beyond Alice, but somehow, it'd happened. Three cheers for smart criminals.

Ten minutes later Sarah walked in the door, unsurprised to find her younger sister sitting in front of the television, Chinese take-out boxes scattered across the coffee table and just starting to watch the beginning credits of 28 Days Later.

Alice didn't say anything as she sat down with a slight bounce on the couch next to her and without looking away from the television, reached forward and handed Sarah a random box of food. Sarah took it and gave her a sidelong glance but said nothing as she leaned back, picking up her food with a pair of chopsticks taped to the side of the box.

**Reviews are like heroine, feed the addiction.**


	2. Hands are distant lullabies

Hands are distant lullabies

_Hands are distant lullabies_

Alice stood in front of the large double doors, her hand resting by her side limply. A few girls came and went through the door, looking at Alice and the tall red head behind her oddly before heading on to their next classes. She and Lorraine had been standing in front of the gym doors for nearly three minutes, simply staring, before Lorraine finally spoke.

"You have to go in eventually," she stated, lightly tapping her foot on the hard linoleum flooring absentmindedly. She blew a bubble in her gum and gave Alice a hard stare. "Just reach out, grab the handle, and go in. No one's going to say anything."

Giving her friend a disbelieving look, Alice shook her head. "I think I'll just skip PE today," she said, taking a step backwards only to run into Lorraine.

This was surprisingly normal behavior between the two girls. Alice would do near everything to avoid her third hour PE class, but now that her chance of graduating her junior year was at stake, Alice didn't have much of a choice but to go. That still, however, did not make the idea of an hour's worth of sweaty exercise and cocky prep boys any easier.

Hence the fight to go through the door.

The red head took advantage of Alice' surprise and grabbed her by the arm, opened the gym door, and forced the shorter girl through it. She leaned back against it, blocking Alice' route to escaping and grinned down at her. "I refuse to become a senior without my best friend. That means you are going to pass this stupid class, along with all the others." Waving a hand to usher Alice on, she laughed, "It's really not that big of a deal. It's only volleyball."

Ha, riiight. _Just volleyball_.

--

"I hate you."

Twenty minutes later found both girls amazingly on the same side, facing a boy's team against their girl's team. Somehow Alice had already fallen and tripped nearly half a dozen times, been hit in the face twice by a served volleyball, and knocked down half the class while jogging laps when she'd fallen the second time. Mr. Mackey had dubbed her the clumsiest girl in the class for a reason, and that hour she'd been living up to her name perfectly.

"Just because you fall down doing anything and everything," Lorraine started, leaping forward to set a flying ball back over the net to the guys before turning back to a frightened Alice, laughing, "Does not mean you can blame it on me. You're just naturally a klutz."

Alice took a quick step to the right, managing to miss being hit full in the face by another flying volleyball. "I resent that," she called to Lorraine, giving the boys on the opposite side of the net dirty looks.

It wasn't that Alice hated sports; she actually loved soccer and softball. The only problem was staying balanced long enough not to fall over and look a fool. Volleyball, however, had never been a strong sport of hers, not to mention** dangerous **in her book. The fact that hard rubber balls were being punched through the air at high speeds had everything to do with it. More than once Alice had been hit in the face with a volley ball, and had no hopes of it happening again.

Thirty minutes later (all without injuries dealt to Alice) Mr. Mackey blew his whistle, signaling the end of the class. Alice, if she had had any energy left from the period, would have jumped for joy at the sound of the shrill whistle and bee lined herself towards the girl's locker room, Lorraine close on her heels.

"Sports suck major and complete butter balls," Alice announced when the two entered the locker room. "They should be banned for all eternity." Lorraine gave her a slightly sympathetic smile before disappearing into the bathroom with her clothes in hand.

There was a dull lull of noise coming from the rest of the junior girls and a few seniors that were laughing and joking while Alice quickly changed. She'd never really taken the time to get to know any of her fellow classmates and was perfectly content with only a small close circle of friends. Her friends, with the exception of Lorraine and another girl Amber, were all boys. There was much less drama that way.

It took less than a minute for Alice to change out of her basketball shorts and tank top back into her school clothes. She grabbed her books off of the bench against one of the walls of the locker room and glanced at herself in the mirror. Lorraine appeared behind her a few moments later, changed back into her school clothes as well and prodded her side with a grin.

"Gain some weight, won't you?" she joked while rearranging her hair carelessly.

Alice gave Lorraine an insulted look and looked back her reflection in the mirror, "I'm a size five, thank you very much."

It was nice being the same size as your older sister; you automatically could share your closet with her at half the price. The only thing that bothered Alice about sharing her clothes with Sarah was half the time she never got them back. Somehow they'd be lent out to her girlfriends, left at an ex-boyfriends house or laying somewhere at her current boyfriend's house. Alice had quickly learned to hide her favorite clothes, figuring they'd eventually be lost with the help of her _responsible_ sister.

"Sarcasm, Al, is an amazing thing," Lorraine smirked back as she turned and grabbed her bag from off the concrete flooring and headed towards the door. Alice stuck out her tongue at her friend's back childishly for a few seconds before starting after her with a sigh.

"I saw that you know," Lorraine called back to her, not even bothering to turn around.

In response Alice just waved a hand at her before running after her, and jumped onto the taller girl's back. Lorraine stumbled a few steps while catching her balance but didn't drop her. Reaching an arm out, Alice pointed to the door. "Onwards donkey."

"You're lucky that I love you," was all Lorraine said before pushing open the door with her foot and set out into the high school hallway.

--

Lorraine scrunched her nose as she and Alice sat down at their lunch table and prodded her supposed chicken pizza carefully. "Who comes up with these things?"

Alice just shrugged her shoulders and dug into her pizza pocket with a content smile. Pizza pockets were about the only safe thing on the lunch menu and it even tasted half decent. Two points for edible food!

A tall blond boy, a year older than the girls, sat down beside Alice, setting down a bowl of soup dangerously close to the edge of the table in doing so. Jason was the joker of the group, always one to bring a smile to the saddest of faces. It was one of his many talents, though school didn't happen to be on his list of talents anywhere. He, like Alice, had the possibility of being unable to graduate along with Carver and Mace, other friends of their's that were seniors that year.

"42," Jason replied. Lorraine gave him an odd look and picked up her pizza, smelling it. "It's the answer to everything. Don't question it; you might hurt yourself by trying to comprehend the sheer amazingness of it."

"Amazingness isn't a word, idiot," Alice interjected, giving a now offended looking Jason a sweet smile. She took a bite of her pizza pocket just as a short girl with dark blond hair sat herself on the other side of her, pulling a lunch box out of seemingly nowhere. "Hey Amber."

The girl just smiled in return, opening her lunch box and revealing a better selection of food than anyone else at the table so far. Amber was the quietest of all of Alice' friends, and possibly the entire school. The two girls had been friends since Alice had moved in with Sarah, but she'd never heard Amber say more than six or seven words at a time. Her mother also happened to be a well esteemed chef at a local four star restaurant, and she was lucky enough to be given packed lunches every morning.

Spoiled brat.

Jason looked at the slice of homemade chocolate pie enviously. Amber eyed him warningly, but he didn't seem to notice.

"I hate how your mother is a four star chef," he complained, reaching out a hand to steal the pie away only to be slapped away by a slightly amused Amber. "Please?" he whined, jutting out his bottom lip and giving her his best puppy eyes. Alice rolled her eyes and Lorraine just shook her head in mild amusement.

"Back off," Amber warned, taking out a half sandwich and digging into it with a smile. Jason grumbled for a few seconds while the girls laughed at his sulking appearance. Alice patted him comfortingly on the arm as he was forced to eat the slightly green looking chicken noodle soup.

"I really don't think that's healthy in any way," Lorraine sounded, pointing to the disgusting looking soup Jason was eating. She really had no room to speak; her pizza was really just a piece of burned bread with a bucket load of greasy cheese and a few miniscule pieces of chicken. At least, Alice hoped it was chicken..

Jason shrugged his mouth full of soup. "Itits weally nut tha bed!" he told her, not bothering to swallow before making his defense.

"That's disgusting Jason," a new voice announced with a slight edge of disgust in his voice. "Swallow, and then talk."

Jason gave the other boy, an average sized black haired boy in a hoodie and jeans, a sheepish look. "More fun this way Carver," he told him with a smile, sliding over on the bench to make room for him. "You're late."

Carver was the unannounced 'leader' between the people that Alice hung around with. He was the oldest, beating Jason by three months, and one of the smartest kids in the school. Almost everyone knew he would be graduating valedictorian with ease. He was an all around good guy, the sport player of the group, and spent time tutoring elementary students for extra money. He was technically the polar opposite of Jason, but somehow they balanced each other perfectly.

"Mr. Haring forgot to write my scholarship recommendation," Carver said, taking a seat beside Amber and Lorraine with a sigh. "So I had to go talk to him in the counselor's office."

"Well, you didn't miss much," Lorraine told him, taking a small sip of her Pepsi. "Just Jason being an idiot, and Alice being her natural Nazi self."

Alice kicked the older girl in the shins beneath the table with a frown. "I was not being a Nazi! All I said was that 'amazingness' isn't a word!" She winced when she felt a foot come into heavy contact with her shin and rubbed it gingerly.

With an amused look, Carver looked between them, knowing exactly what was happening beneath the wood of the table top. "Well, amazingness isn't a word, sorry Jason," he started with a small smile as the foot war continued between Alice and Lorraine, "But you are a bit of a grammar Nazi, Al. I say it in the most loving of ways," he added when the younger girl sent him a death glare. He cleared his throat, "Anyone seen Mace?"

Everyone looked around the table, realizing that the six member of their small group of friends was missing. How they had missed the loud mouth smart aleck Mace Christiano was beyond Alice. Normally there would have been twice as many sarcastic comments, a few fights between herself and Mace, and a food fight before the end of the lunch period. No wonder it had been so quiet...

"Showing around the new kid," piped up the quiet voice that belonged to Amber.

"What new kid?"

"We have a new kid?"

"Is he hot!?"

Lorraine winced when Carver and Jason's hands came into contact with the back of her head and she looked abashed. "I was just asking! Jeeze..!"

Pulling out her beaten up cell phone with a small smile, Alice pushed her sixth speed dial and waited as it rang. The tone sounded almost five times before he answered his phone.

"What do you want?"

Alice rolled her eyes at the true Mace fashion of answering a phone. "Hello to you too, Mr. Crabby Pants. What crawled up your butt and look a piss there?"

"No pissing dogs. I just got conned into showing the new kid around. We'll be at the table in a few minutes, we're still in line."

Before she had a chance to answer, Mace severed the connection, leaving Alice to stare at her phone in confusion. We? He was bringing this new person to eat lunch with them? This was going to be interesting. "I guess you get to find out whether the guy is hot or not," she said, looking over to a confused Lorraine. "Mace is bringing him to the table for lunch."

Everyone covered their ears at Lorraine's loud shout of happiness. The new kid wouldn't know what hit him.

"You bother me," Jason told her seriously, ducking just in time to miss the flying piece of greasy chicken that had been barreling towards his head.

"Violent too," Carver added, raising his hands in surrender when Lorraine held up a piece of grease covered cheese threateningly. "But we love you anyways!"

Lorraine nodded her head approvingly. "You'd better."

She opened her mouth to say more, but a sudden look of vacancy came over her face and she simply closed and opened it a few times before resting with it open. Carver followed her gaze and looked away laughing and Amber just shook her head. Alice looked at them confused until she felt Jason being pushed away from her and looked over to see Mace sitting down tiredly beside her. Looking up, Alice saw a tall light haired brown guy walking to sit beside a still frozen looking Lorraine. It didn't take a genius to realize that the boy was the new kid, and that Lorraine had fallen in to love at first sight.

Poor, poor boy.

As he walked around the edge of the table to seat himself beside a chocked up Lorraine, Alice had a chance to get a good look at him. He was short, maybe only a few inches taller than her, and skinny. He was wearing a pair of loose jeans, plain grey t-shirt, and a black zip hoodie over it. In Alice' opinion, he looked almost exactly the same as half the guys in her school, but it was apparent that Lorraine was having other thoughts.

Mace took a deep drink from his water bottle and let out a tired sigh. Everyone was staring at him, except for Lorraine who was still looking at the boy, waiting for him to introduce the new kid. After a few awkward moments, Alice nudged him gently in the ribs and motioned towards the boy who was warily picking at his pizza pocket, unsure. Mace gave her aggravated look and sighed again.

"Everyone, this is Griffin," he motioned a hand to the boy, Griffin, carelessly. "Griffin, this is everyone. Happy Miss-Royally-Kiss-My-Ass?" Mace asked Alice, giving her another annoyed look.

She shrugged and gave him a small smile. "Not really, but I'll live."

"So glad to hear it," Mace muttered before turning back to his food halfheartedly.

"Be nice, you big oaf," Alice said half seriously, poking the older boy in the ribs sharply. "You're giving Griffin the wrong idea about us Bostonians."

Mace turned his head slowly towards her and Jason rolled his eyes to Carver who just laughed softly. "Did you just call me an 'oaf', little midget?"

"Here we go," Lorraine said quietly, finally breaking herself out of her one way staring contest. She elbowed Griffin gently in the side, startling him slightly. "Be ready to be amused."

Griffin gave her a confused look but nodded his head silently, watching as Alice smacked Mace in the back of his head.

"- at least I don't stalk people!" Alice retorted, folding her arms across her chest with a huff. Mace gave her an incredulous look, rubbing the back of his head and motioned wildly to an angered Alice, trying to form words.

"When have I ever stalked someone!?" he demanded, looking ready to hit Alice back if it weren't for the fact that she was a girl. Whoever said chivalry was dead, lied.

Alice shut her mouth for a second, trying to come up with an answer. She gaped for a second before shouting, "You stalk me!"

The entire lunchroom went silent, but noone at the table including Alice or Mace seemed to notice.

Griffin looked at a highly amused Lorraine in total confusion, but didn't ask questions. Looking around the circular table, he could see that many of the others were ready to fall off their seats in laugher. Apparently this was a normal everyday thing for the girl and Mace.

"I've never stalked you in my entire life!" Mace roared, drawing attention from any who hadn't before been watching the large senior boy and quite small junior girl fighting. Jason whipped away a stray tear from his eye, resisting the urge to fall on the ground in hysterics.

Alice turned serious and leaned in close to Mace's angered face. "You're like a little lost stalker puppy from hell that won't leave me alone! You follow me everywhere!" Even Amber snorted at that.

"A puppy?" Mace repeated in a quiet, almost deadly, voice.

Alice nodded, triumphant. "A puppy."

The dark haired senior dropped his head loudly on the lunch table and proceeded to bang it rather loudly. Alice just looked at him with a look that clearly said she thought he was odd and shrugged. She turned her vision to Griffin and shot him a smile.

"I'm Alice," she told him, sending him a wave and motioned towards the still head-banging Mace. "Sorry about the stalker puppy, he was having 'Alice Withdrawals' this morning which would explain his assness towards you."

Griffin returned the smile briefly and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "I didn't take it personally," he said, surprising everyone besides Mace with a heavy English accent. One glance at Lorraine told Alice that she'd just fallen another step into love in just five words.

"Whoa."

"Sweet!"

"You speak cool!" Jason shouted, turning slightly red when everyone turned to stare at him.

Alice gave a somewhat embarrassed looking Griffin an encouraging smile and shrugged to him. "We live sad little lives, I know."

**Reviews are like heroine, feed the addiction.**


	3. If I could turn around I would tonight

**Author Note: **Oh lord, you guys like me too much to be healthy I'm thinking. Ten reviews?! Nifty! I'm rather proud of myself, and it drives T.K. slightly insane to read your reviews (he's still stuck at three) and come up with snarky and sarcastic comments. But no worries, I won't be mean and let him answer your reviews. This is going to bother me so I'm setting the record straight now: **Alys is not a Jumper.** I have a feeling that enough stories such as that with a MC Girl Jumper will be popping up fairly soon. If that's what you were looking for while reading this, I'm sorry to disappoint. I was told by T.K. to get the ball rolling, so there's a bit of action, crazy bald guys who teach, and a cliff hanger ending or sorts. Sorta. Kinda. Maybe?

Onwards little readers.

Also, first one to beat T.K. to the first review gets a surprise next chapter.

xxfin.

**Reviews Thanks:**

**T.K- **You did too stalk us, don't lie. I have a broken phone to prove it.

**Adraia- **Ha, so much fun to leave you guys hanging like that. Makes you want more. Hopefully.

**otterwarrior16- **I'm trying not to let my own personality show through too much on this, I've been told I have a potty mouth. o.0 Ha, glad to know you like it though!

**superdani152003- **Nope, sorry. But I'm sure many people will quickly be writing enough stories to fill anyone's craving for a girljumper story. Give it a couple weeks.

**PoPCoRn- **So happy to know you like it so far!

**Frost- **Gah. Guys with accents are the best. I swear, I'm gonna marry a foreigner someday.

**Revinn- **Whoo for Jumper fics:D I'm pretty sure whole crap load of em are going to be popping up soon, but I could be wrong. Happy to see you like mine so far though.

**Mischief Never Managed- **Sweet, one word reviews! (I say this non sarcastically..)

**Feeldaforce- **I AM YOUR FATHER! … cough sorry 'bout that, gotta love Star Wars..

**namine44- **hahahahahaha. If you go and read T.K's review, you'll see he mentions something about screaming. He seems to think its cheating if you use real life happenings in your stories. Such as calling Mace a stalker puppy, which is what my friend called T.K one day at school. So really, you're not quite as sad a person as I am, 'cause I actually write stories about it. Plus, only cool people can act like idiots and get away with it.

**--**

**Chapter Three**

Lunch after the late arrival of Mace and the newcomer, Griffin, was fairly uneventful. Sadly, no food fights broke out and no scandalous happenings occurred on the popular side of the lunch room. Lorraine finally snapped out of her love sick staring and started a quiet conversation with Amber about something while Alys and the rest of the guys spoke of the football game from the night before. Griffin sat beside Lorraine, listening to both ongoing conversations, not saying anything.

When the bell rang, everyone gathered up their trash and grabbed their backpacks almost at once. Alys called her goodbye's to everyone once dumping her garbage and exited the loud cafeteria. Her next class was World History which was in the other building, and she still needed to stop at her locker. Hurrying, she pushed her way through the hordes of people and made her way to the junior hallway.

She was in the midst of trying to remember the combination to her, Lorraine, and Amber's locker when she heard her name being called. Looking up just as she was finally able to open the locker, Alys saw Mace and Griffin making their way towards her. She smiled in greeting to them and pulled out her history book while Mace opened the locker next to hers, which had originally been shared between the two of them until Mace had put up pictures of women in shanky bikinis and changed his combination.

"You and Griffin have Snider together," Mace told her while Griffin leaned against a random locker quietly. "You mind taking him? I'll be late to Anderson's if I have to go into the Harper Building. Being the old hag Anderson is she'll give me dentition for it." He gave her a sidelong glance, which Alys knew was the closet she'd ever get to a pleading look and nodded her head.

"Snider likes me more than you anyways," she announced, shutting her locker door with a slam. Not waiting for Mace to respond with a stark comment like she knew he would, Alys turned and started down the hall, grabbing the sleeve of Griffin's hooded sweatshirt as she went. When she was sure he was following her, she released him and gave Griffin a sheepish look when he looked at her oddly. "Sorry 'bout that."

Griffin just shrugged and smirked slightly. "It's alright. I've just decided that all Americans are freakish blokes." The light teasing glint in his eyes showed he meant no harm, but it was funny none the less.

Alys bit back a laugh as the two of them walked out the open front doors and headed towards a building a few hundred feet away. "Did you just call us idiots?" she demanded, trying to sound serious and offended.

The British boy just shoved his hands into his jean pockets and tipped his heads towards her with a smile. "Possibly."

"I'm insulted!" Alys shouted, giving Griffin a glare as he just shrugged his shoulders unaffectedly.

"I call it as I see it."

Before Alys could say anything in return, the late bell rang and snapped her back into reality. They were late, something that she really couldn't afford to be when she was currently failing all her classes. She increased her speed and could hear Griffin following her with ease. Taking a right, Alys pulled open a heavy wooden door with a glass window in the center of it and walked in, holding it open for Griffin to follow.

The short, balding man at the head of the classroom looked at the two students as they walked into the classroom, Alys with a slightly red face. Griffin didn't seem to mind that the entire class was staring at the two of them or that the teacher standing behind his podium looked a tad bit ticked off.

"Alys Kelley," Mr. Snider boomed, stopping Alys' in her tracks as she tried to make her way to the back of the room before he noticed her, which was impossible.

Alys grimaced and spun on her heel, pasting a cheerful smile on her face and looking at her angered teacher. "Hey, Mr. Snider! How are you on this oh-so-fine day?" Her smile wavered at his lack of amusement and the snickers that were sounding around her. She really didn't like this class.

Mr. Snider let out a deep sigh and walked out from behind his podium, folding his hands and clasping them tight to his chest with a frown. "Miss Kelley, this is the fourth time you have been late to my class this week. Would you care to explain yourself?"

Alys opened and closed her mouth a few times, probably giving everyone in the room the impression that she was trying to impersonate a gold fish but said nothing. Griffin, who had so far been watching in mild amusement from his place in the doorway, took a step forward.

"It's my fault she's late sir," he said, trying to sound apologetic. Alys gave him a confused look as Mr. Snider turned to face Griffin, who he apparently had just then noticed. "My name's Griffin Smith, I just moved here. Alys saw me trying to find my class with little success, and took pity on me. She really shouldn't be at fault for my inability to read a campus map. Sir." He added, giving a surprised yet impressed looking Mr. Snider a small smile.

The entire class waited silently for the teacher's response. Most were in shock of having a new student, one from England no less. Alys stood still as a statue behind a silent Snider and waited, praying that Griffin's half true excuse would be enough to keep her out of trouble. She made a note to thank the new boy the first chance she could.

Suddenly, surprising the whole class and causing Alys to take a step back, Mr. Snider turned to face her. Pointing a finger at her threateningly, he shook it at her. "I will excuse this tardiness this one and only time Miss Kelley. If you are ever late to my class again, don't bother coming back the next day," he told her in a deadly serious voice.

All that Alys could do was nod her head before quickly retreating back to her assigned seat that was located at the back of the room. A few moments later, after having a brief word with Snider, Griffin dumped his backpack down beside the desk across the row from her and sank into it. When Snider turned to write on the chalkboard, Alys mouthed her thanks to the Brit and he just nodded in return.

It didn't take long after Snider started into a lecture on the Spanish Inquisition that most of the class fell asleep. Around the second day of school, Alys had realized that most of the time her teacher only talked so that he could hear his own voice. As a result, almost all of the things that came out of his mouth made little or no sense to much of the class, not to mention related in no way to the current class subject. She had tried listening to his entire lectures before, but his voice was one that droned and was insanely easy to tune out.

Somehow, as Snider mumbled something about what she thought was roasted peanuts; Alys highly doubted that today would be any different. Beside her, Griffin had already stopped trying to take notes and had his head resting on the top of his desk. Many of the people surrounding her were mimicking his position, only a couple of honors students at the head of the class were diligently writing away at their notes.

About halfway through the class and around thirteen folded paper cranes later, Alys finally shook herself back into paying attention as she started to hear words that sounded like they might actually pertain to the day's lesson. She dodged out a foot, kicking the desk next to her and tried not to smirk when Griffin jumped awake and looked wildly around the classroom for a few brief seconds.

"The final pairs for the project are Kelley and Smith," a loud voice rang out from the head of the class, causing Alys to look at Mr. Snider in confusion. What project? "I expect these projects to be completed by the end of next week, no excuses," he handed the kids in the front row sheets to hand back and continued on his ranting. "You will _not_ be given time in class to complete this assignment. It should be worked on in your spare time and considered the same percentage as your semester final."

Alys scanned the sheet of paper that held the project rubric on it and looked at it with a frown. As if she wasn't failing this class enough. The completed project was worth over two hundred points, which were two hundred points she couldn't afford to lose. She looked over at Griffin who was looking at his paper with a mixture of hate and annoyance. Apparently she wasn't the only one who wasn't looking forward to their project.

A few seconds after Snider finished with his explanation of all that he expected with the project, the bell rang and everyone practically ran out of the room. Alys took her time getting up from her seat and stuffing her text book and unused notebook back into her pack.

"So whose house are we doing this project at?" Griffin asked, appearing beside her suddenly and slightly surprising her. He looked uninterested and rubbed the back of his neck impatiently. "We could do it at mine, but we're still unpacking and I'd need to check with my uncle."

Alys paused in her packing, debating mentally which would be better. She knew Sara was working night shifts the rest of the week but also figured that Terrence would be hanging around the apartment most of the time as well. She didn't really want to have to put up with his sarcastic comments and such while attempting to save her high school career. "My house is bad," Alys said finally, reaching down and picking up her back pack.

Griffin nodded and followed her out of the classroom. "I can call my uncle after school, we could even start this thing tonight if you wanted, get it over with?"

"Got nothing better to do," Alys said, waving goodbye to him and walking off towards her last class of the day.

Oh, the joys of the French language.

--

After school, Alys found Griffin waiting for her while leaning against the bike rack that sat just outside the front doors. She'd called Sara during her French class and left a message saying she'd be home late because of the project. She was guessing that she'd still arrive back to the apartment before Sara got off work, but it would all depend on how long they decided to work for.

"You call your uncle?" Alys questioned, coming to a stop in front of Griffin, squinting as the sun shone in her eyes brightly.

Griffin nodded and pushed himself off the bike rack. "He just said to tell you not to mind the mess. He's got work until five, but promised to bring some take-out home," he told her, starting to walk down the front steps as Alys followed. "Chinese okay?"

"There's no other kind of take-out other than Chinese," Alys stated, giving an eyebrow raised Griffin a serious look. "When you learn that, you're finally a true American."

"I thought American's lived off of McDonalds?" Griffin countered, stopping at an intersection and pushing the walk button and turned back to her while waiting for the sign to turn green. "Isn't that an American pastime or something crazy like that?"

Alys looked offended and gestured to herself. "Do I look like I live off of fast food you British wanker?" Alys stared at Griffin like he was insane when her burst out laughing, leaning against the signal pole behind him for support. "What? Isn't that how you say it?"

A few people waiting at the crosswalk around them looked at them strangely, one or two even took a step away from the teens. Alys looked around at them and shrugged her shoulders, stepping back slightly. Some of the people gave her smiles and one man, a tall blond haired man with dressed oddly in all gray just continued to stare at them strangely. Alys gave him an odd look and turned her attention back to the still laughing Brit.

"Don't ever say that again," Griffin said, waving a hand at her and taking a deep breath to regain the breath he'd lost. His face was red and he looked overly amused. "You don't have the accent for it, like moi does."

"Gah. No French!" Alys whined, pulling Griffin behind her as she crossed the street when the signal finally turned. "French is the language of torture!" There was a reason she failing that class, and it wasn't just because she sat next to the window and happened to be easily entertained.

"Try learning Latin," He told her, turning onto a less crowded and busy side street that Alys never knew existed before. "No one even knows how to actually pronounce the damn words, and yet schools still force students to learn them! How does that make sense in any way?"

Alys shook her head in agreement, "The child abuse school systems get away with."

The sound of footsteps behind them made Alys look over her shoulder and was surprised to see the gray clothed man from the crosswalk following not far behind. The determined look on his face slightly frightened yet interested her. She sped up her pace, catching up to Griffin who had gotten a few feet ahead of her. The turned onto another street, even less crowded then the one they had just been on and Alys had a feeling that it might not have been the best idea of the day.

A few cars past by them as the two teens continued down the almost empty street, including a heavily tinted black suburban SUV that slowed considerably while passing them before turning around the corner. Alys peeked over her shoulder and saw that the gray man was still within a block's worth of distance behind them. A few seconds later, the SUV reappeared, coming down the street towards them slowly and Alys couldn't help but feel like Ponyboy right before he was jumped in the Outsiders.

"Hey Griff?" Alys said quietly as the suburban continued inching closer to them and the man sped his pace, closing the distance quickly.

Griffin gave her a side glance and nodded his head. "I know."

If he had meant the statement to make Alys feel better in any way, he'd failed miserably. Suddenly, he stopped walking and turned towards her. Alys walked ahead of him a few steps before looking back at him in surprise. The black SUV saw this and sped up, giving the two teens only moments before it would be right beside them, and the man was nearly jogging towards them now.

"Uh, walking now would be good Griff," Alys said seriously, reaching and pulling on his arm desperately.

Sure, for all she knew the random stalking guy could really just be out jogging and the SUV could have just taken a wrong turn and was simply going to pass right by them, but Alys would rather be safe than sorry. And being safe meant _not_ stopping in front of the random guy and strange car.

Griffin looked back at the approaching car and man and gave her a hard look. "How much do you trust me?"

Alys did a double take, surprised by his question. How long had she known him? What, four hours? It wasn't exactly a long amount of time for her to get to know the boy, let alone learn to trust him. Hell, she didn't even know where he was from other than he had a British accent! "Not as far as I could throw you."

That brought a smirk to Griffin's face as he reached out a hand and grabbed her arm tightly. She looked down in confusion and tried to steal back her arm but to no avail, Griffin held it in a tight grip. "Good," glancing back at the SUV that was only mere feet away from them and the man who was almost within spitting distance, he laughed at Alys' slightly frightened face. "Hold your breath."

The man was almost upon them, his arm outstretched in midair and the brakes were starting to squeal on the tinted SUV.

"Wha–" before Alys could finish her confused question, Griffin yanked her forward just as the SUV screeched to a stop next to them and the man reached out a hand towards her and the ground disappeared from beneath their feet.

**Yeahhh. So? Reviews are like heroine, feed the addiction.**


	4. These roads never seemed so long

**Yes, shortest chapter so far. There's a reason behind it though. Didn't want to drag things out too horribly and bore you all to death. We got Dylan entering next chapter, which should be great fun. Griffin's gotta explain himself not only to Alys, but to Dylan as well. Woo, the greatness of it. Should be out by the end of the week. But anyways, onwards little readers. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far. I'll be sending cookies to you tomorrow.**

**xxfin.**

**otterwarrior16: **You get a huge freaking cookie kid. You reviewed like an hour after I updated and totally made my day. Much thanks for that.

**All other reviewers, there's ten more of you, and I don't want to take a huge space saving thanks so..**

**THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING!!!!!!**

**See? Much easier.**

**Chapter Four**

These roads never seemed so long

The ground reappeared beneath Alys' feet so quickly that she didn't have a chance to comprehend anything before she found herself in a face plant on the hard ground. Beside her she heard Griffin fall loudly with a groan.

"God, you're heavy," he told her, rolling onto his side and slowly climbing to his feet. Alys said nothing, lying on the cold ground silently and she tried to understand what the hell had just occurred.

They had just been walking down a sidewalk being stalked by a random guy dressed in all gray and a black SUV had tried to practically run them over. Griffin, a boy she'd known for around four hours, had gone crazy before telling her to hold her breath and then suddenly they were off the street and inside a building. In the blink of an eye.

She repeated the story a few times over in her head silently before deciding she really was going crazy. The story sounded insane to even her, and Alys had no idea what anyone else would think if she told them what had just happened. There was no logical reasoning to just…transporting from one place to another.

If that was even what had just happened, Alys really wasn't sure of anything at the moment.

--

Griffin walked away from her, giving and odd glance to the girl sprawled out on his living room floor and turned to walk away towards the kitchen. He had no idea what the hell he was supposed to tell her. What had been running through his idiotic brain when he'd decided to Jump Alys, Griffin wasn't really all that sure of. All he knew was that the Paladins were getting smarter, and if Dylan didn't hurry his slow ass up getting home, Griffin was going to leave him behind.

What to do with Alys was beyond him.

--

After about four minutes of just laying on the floor, Alys finally pushed herself up and looked around the room they'd landed in. In her mind, she was freaking out, looking for any signs of escaping the place. For all she knew, Griffin was a psychotic crazy who was going to rape her in a dark corner and it was only a matter of time before he came back for her. Therefore, escape routes were pertinent.

She wasn't stupid; she knew that Griffin knew the man in gray and the men who had been tailing them in the car. If he had anything to do with them, getting away from him would be the safest bet for her. She could hear the suspected rummaging around in what Alys thought was the kitchen, and looked around the small room she was currently in.

It had boxes stacked up against the walls, most still needing to be unpacked. The only furniture was a run down looking couch that had seen better days and a small television set up atop another stack of unpacked boxes. The blinds were half open, showing a small view of the wall of the building next to theirs. It was the normal sight of a living room that was just being moved into by two single men.

It was also in no way helpful to Alys in any plans to escape.

A glance out the window quickly told her that wasn't a safe way out. The apartment she was in currently was at least six or seven stories high, and without a fire escape by the living room window. She could still hear Griffin moving around in his kitchen and started tiptoeing towards the hallway as quietly as she could manage. She made it halfway down the hall and towards what looked liked the front door when Alys heard Griffin coming back into the vacated living room and stopped short.

To run or not to run, that is the question.

The sound of Griffin's footsteps stopping upon what Alys guessed was his arrival into the living room quickly shouted the answer into her face.

Running was good.

--

It took Griffin about 2.3 seconds to realize that Alys had vacated the living room and that it was in fact her footsteps echoing down the hall towards the front door. She was able to unlock the door and slam it shut behind her before he had a chance to take a step forward towards the door.

She was fast.

He shook his head and set down the cold pizza he'd found in the deep ravines of their fridge on the edge of a moving box.

"Bloody women," Griffin muttered, popping his neck from side to side. A few seconds later his feet leapt off the floor and he was gone.

--

Alys ran down the stairs two at a time, desperately praying to whatever God was listening at the time that she wouldn't fall flat on her face. She knew that Griffin would've heard her leave and that he was probably currently following close behind or at least taking the elevator. All she knew was that the further away she was from the crazy Brit, the better.

She was about four floors away from Griffin's apartment when Alys made the mistake of looking behind her for a brief second. The moment she turned back around, she ran into a hard wall like structure and fell to the ground in a slightly pained heap.

Griffin smirked lightly and crouched down beside her as she looked at him with a slight mixture of fear and awe. "That was rather rude of you Alys," he stated, giving her a half serious look. Alys could feel her jaw dropping as he stood back up to his full height and held out a hand to her. "It would be much appreciated if you came back upstairs with me. I owe you a bit of explaining, don't you think?"

"Do I have a choice?" Alys questioned, raising an eyebrow at him when she back on her own two feet.

"Not really, no."

She shrugged. "At least you're honest."

--

"You would anything to eat?" Griffin asked once they were back inside his apartment. He looked through the empty cupboards in vain, finding nothing but an open box of Pop tarts and a package of seaweed. Alys stood cautiously behind him in the kitchen doorframe, watching as he continued on his search for food. "All we got is left over pizza, Pop tarts, and Dylan's crazy seaweed he gets from Finland," he said finally, looking at her from around the door of the refrigerator.

"I think I'm good," Alys said finally, taking a few steps further into the small kitchen area and took a seat at the small makeshift table. "Not that you're great variety of foods doesn't sound amazing or anything."

Griffin frowned at her and took a seat across from her, taking a huge bite out of his own seaweed. "No need to be sarcastic."

"Are you going to explain yet?" Alys inquired, ignoring his comment as she folded her arms across her chest. "Who was the guy in the gray suit? Who were the stalker guys in the black SUV? How the hell did we end up here? Where the hell is _here_?!" She leaned forward in her chair, looking at him intensely.

"Nope," he said, looking at her with seriousness.

Alys sat back with a frown. "No?"

"No," he took another large bite of his seaweed and shrugged. "Because there's this old guy who'll kill me when he finds out what happened. Therefore, I'm not going to say anything more incriminating for you to blab about when he gets here," he paused and shot her a smirk. "Is that all right with you milady?"

She didn't bother responding and focused on the top of the table. The two teens sat in silence, each one looking anywhere other than at each other. Griffin squirmed in his chair anxiously. Dylan was due to be home from work anytime now, and Griffin was starting to wonder if he should be worrying right now, or packing at least.

The Paladins had never trailed them this quickly before. Normally, he and Dylan would be able to live in peace so to speak for at least a month or two before the Paladins showed up on their doorstep with new death threats. This time, they'd only been in town two weeks before they'd shown up ready for a fight. The fact that they were beginning to track them faster and easily wasn't something that was going to make Griffin sleep any better at night.

Alys cleared her throat, crash landing Griffin back in to reality. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and she shrugged.

"Frog in my throat. Sorry, am I bothering you?" The half angry look on her face clearly spoke louder than words that she was not in fact sorry and probably wanted to hit him.

Griffin sighed and resisted the urge to bang his head on the table and rolled his eyes. The one time he decided to save an innocent life, it turns out to be an annoying girl who asked too many questions and was probably too observant for her own good.

In the world that Griffin lived in, asking questions got you killed. He knew that if Alys kept continuing down her nosey ways in the world he had just shoved her into, she'd be dead within a month.

And that was something that he had to prevent.

**-- Reviews are like heroine, feed the addiction kids.**


	5. Since your paper heart stopped beating

Chapter Five

**Author Note: **Sorry for the delay in updates. Just got back from a family vacation, during which I finally read _Jumper: Griffin's Story_ and _Jumper_ as well. To say the least, I was rather disappointed in not only Hollywood, but Steven Gould as well for allowing Jumper to be so blatantly manipulated the way it was. You can ask either my parents or T.K and they'll agree that I've done quite a bit of ranting over the past week while reading. To say the least, after reading the books and watching the movie, I'm declaring this as an Alternate Universe story, which of course it is anyways, but the books just proved it even more so. For those of you who _have_ read the books, I will be making attempts to incorporate some of the facts from them. Nothing huge, just possible visits from a few characters and mentionings of others. For those of you who haven't read the books, I suggest you do so at once.

Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing, you guys are making my day when you do so. Also helps that it irks T.K when I send him a MSN message screaming "38 REVIEWS!!" to which he answers in a not so manneristic way. But hell, makes me grin every time. Keep them coming and I'll continue writing.

The beginning of this chapter starts out in Alys' point of view and then goes back to the narrator's. Points of view are always separated with double dashes. There is slightly more cussing in this chapter, simply because if any of you were in the same position as Alys, I think you'd let a few profanities slip out too. This chapter wasn't edited by T.K, I grounded him from beta rights until he gets his ass in gear and starts writing himself.

So much power…

Hope everyone had a nice Easter and is having an awesome Spring Break.

Au revoir mon petite choux,

Finley.

**Chapter Five**

Since your paper heart stopped beating leaving me suddenly alone

I was perfectly happy to piss off Griffin as much as humanly possible during waiting period for the Dylan character to show up. I chomped loudly on a piece of gum I found in my pocket from lunch and made sure to pop as many of the bubbles as I possibly could. It didn't take very long after I started drumming my fingers on an empty moving box for the Brit to become rather annoyed and with a smirk he disappeared.

As in, poof he's gone, or what those weird warlocks did in Charmed, that blinky thing. Except, as I gaped at the chair he had recently been occupying and I could hear him back in the kitchen, I had to remind myself that this wasn't some messed up sci-fi television show. Oh hell no, this was real life "I shall break all the laws of physics and disappear before thou own eyes!" type of crap that couldn't possibly be real.

That stuff belonged in television shows, cheesy run of the mill movies, and beaten down comic books. Not in real life. But I was dreaming, so it didn't really matter that I was becoming clinically insane and a random boy I'd been kind enough to show around school could not in fact.. _teleport_ himself places.

Because this was a _**dream**_.

Nothing more than a dream concocted up by my mind from watching too many superhero movies over the weekend with Mace. People could not transport their bodies from one place to another.

A dream, that was all.

In the morning I would wake up and laugh at myself for having such an odd dream. I would get dressed, go downstairs and eat breakfast, and then catch the 7:20 bus to school. There I would meet up with everyone before going to class. And at lunch, Mace would be waiting at the table like normal and laugh at something idiotic I'd done earlier. There would be no Griffin, no crazed gray suited guy, and no stalker SUV.

Everything would be normal, in the morning.

I pinched myself half a dozen times trying to wake myself up. When it didn't work, I pinched again, this time a bit harder. I knew what I was doing was crazy, by the book crazy. Doing the same thing over and over in hopes of a different outcome? Yeah, that was text book crazy right there for you. But I was dreaming and I wanted to wake up, and in all the movies and books you read, pinching is the only way to go.

Except that it didn't work.

I closed my eyes and started counting backwards from three hundred. Normally it would put a person to sleep, but in this screwed up dream it could possibly bore me to awareness. Doubtful, but worth a shot. I was only on 187 when the air shifted and my eyes shot open.

Standing in the middle of the living room, a few feet away from me stood who I assumed was Dylan. He was tall, six feet at least with shaggy brown colored hair. He didn't seem to notice me as he strode into the kitchen and promptly started in on Griffin.

"Want to explain to me why the hell we got visitors on our front porch, waiting with their all too happy shockers?"

Standing up slowly, I inched my way towards the kitchen, trying to hear Griffin's low response. A loud "What the fu-" was cut off and I found myself suddenly face to face with a rather angry Dylan. His eyes reminded me of steel and I was all too sure that Griffin wasn't the only one who was about to get their ass chewed.

Oh, joy.

--

Alys resisted the urge to shrink away from the heated glare of Dylan and stood her ground. Griffin stood behind him, a half troubled look planted on his face as he watched the stare down. He could see the flicker of fear in the girl's eye, and couldn't blame her. Griff had only known the Oregon risen, twenty seven year old for a little over a year but had been at the receiving end of his anger more than once. He was a hot headed man, much like Griffin was, but he always reigned himself in before anything became violent.

If he hadn't, Griffin would've been long gone by then. He'd been through enough to have to put up with anything of the sort.

Dylan's eyes raked over Alys, quickly noting all of her weaknesses and stowed them away for a later date. He was pissed; everyone in the room could see it and he himself knew it even better. Taking a last look at the frightened girl, he turned sharply on his heel and focused his glare onto Griffin.

"What the hell did you do?"

Griffin shrugged but explained none the less. "We came to work on a project. I had pallies on my ass, so I grabbed her and jumped."

The look of disbelief on Dylan's face was almost comical, and both teens had to smile slightly at him. He shook his head, clearing it, and rested his weight on his left leg and stared back at Griffin. "You were being followed, so you jumped here with your science partner. Is that what I'm hearing?"

Alys noted how stupid it sounded coming out of Dylan's mouth, but said nothing. She also didn't mention that they were actually history partners. Details weren't important.

"Long story short, yes." Griffin gave another shrug and fell into a chair that he must've brought in from the kitchen.

With a shallow laugh Dylan ran a hand over his face and looked at him pointedly. "You're going to get us all killed one day, Griff."

Griffin's eyes narrowed but he remained silent. Alys looked between the two men and finally plucked together the remaining strands of her courage and took a step forward. Both of their gazes were instantly on her and faltered slightly.

"Can I go now? My sister's going to think I died or something," her voice was quiet but completely truthful. "I promise not to say anything. I feel crazy enough right now, I don't need everyone else to confirm it," she added in a rush, knowing what would be coming on of both their mouths.

Dylan let out a dry chuckle and his eyes turned softer. "You have no idea what the hell you got yourself into, do you?" It was meant as a statement, and everyone understood it.

Alys shrugged her shoulders. "I know that I should probably be in a mental institution right now. People can't just teleport themselves. That only happens in the movies, right?" She let out a nervous laugh when the two men shared a look. "Right?"

The loud resounding silence screamed no.

Griffin let out a sigh and leaned forward in his seat. Dylan glanced at him quickly before looking down at the watch the encircled his wrist. "We don't have time for this. The pallies aren't going to wait forever down there, we gotta move."

Alys watched in confusion as Griffin nodded in agreement and walked out of the room and down the hallway. Dylan let out another heavy sigh and turned back to Alys. "I know that you're confused as hell right now kid, but I need you to listen very carefully to me," he waited for Alys to nod and sat down on the couch across from her. "Griffin was an idiot to do what he did, and it's only a matter of time before it bites him in the ass. What he did was stupid and careless, not to mention dangerous."

Alys gave him a look of complete confusion. "What exactly did he do that's so bad?" She had a pretty good idea, but didn't quite get what was so bad about it. She'd already given her word not to tell anyone, and as far as Alys was concerned, if she never saw Griffin again, it would be fine by her. However, she had a sinking suspicion that it wasn't going to be that easy. Nothing ever was.

"You just got yourself hauled into a war darling," Dylan said, breaking through Alys' confused thoughts.

Alys swallowed. "War?" Oh, shit.

A smirk graced Dylan's face as he nodded his head. "Don't really have time to explain right now, we got the enemy camped out on our front step at the moment. But you need to understand that whatever life you were living this morning, is over. Starting right now, whatever we say, you do. We say run, you run for your life. We say duck, hit the floor or your head will be blown off. What we tell you is what's going to keep you alive. Griffin might've dragged you into this, but I'm sure as hell not going to let another innocent kid get killed by a bunch of crazy guys with guns."

Alys gaped at him in complete shock. What the hell was going on? "What do you mean by my life this morning is over?"

Dylan gave her a hard stare. "Whatever your name was this morning is gone. Any family you have, they no longer exist. Any friends or anyone else you might talk to, you'll never be speaking to them again. Not if you want to save not only yourself, but their lives as well."

"Oh my god," Alys muttered, trying hard to keep herself standing. She felt sick. "You're going to kill me, aren't you? You guys are going to kidnap and murder me or keep me hostage like that Smart girl, aren't you?"

"Jesus Christ," Dylan swore, standing up from his seat and took a step towards the panicking girl who flinched away from him. "Did you not hear anything I just said? I'm trying to keep you alive, not kill you!"

Alys gave him a glare and sneered. "That's what they all say! And then you see pictures of a dead girl on the News!"

Griffin reentered the living room at the same moment that Dylan let out an aggravated groan and the front door was thrown open. Three men dressed in black walked almost casually into the living where they came to a stop in front of an annoyed Dylan, surprised Griffin, and an Alys who was ready to run the first chance she was given. The only thing that kept her from running to the door busting men for help was the sight of the gray suited man walking in through the front door. The same guy who had been following her and Griffin through the streets before he did the teleporting thing.

Suddenly, things weren't starting to look like a dream anymore.

Dylan and Griffin shared a look before Dylan took a step towards the men with a grin that everyone quickly spotted as fake. Two of the men brought up guns from inside their coat pockets and Alys took an involuntary step back. He held his hands out, palm down in a soothing fashion but didn't take another step.

"Something we can do for you fine gentlemen?"

One of the men smirked and raised his gun higher. "Drop dead and make our job easier?"

Alys almost snorted at the third grade comeback but covered it with a cough when Dylan shot her a look and one of the other men glared at her. She caught the smirk Griffin had on his face and turned back to the unfolding scene before her.

"I'm a bit young to die actually," Dylan said giving the men an apologetic look. "But you've seen younger die, now haven't you Snyder?" The comment was directed to the man in the gray suit who simply gave him a cold look in return.

Not much of a talker, Alys noted and immediately questioned herself. She didn't care what was happening between the two groups. Hell, she should be relived that a distraction had come into play that could possibly save her ass. However, she continued to watch the exchange in mild fascination, not noticing Griffin making his silent move across the room towards the kitchen as Dylan continued talking to the impassive men in front of him.

Why no one was attacking each other was beyond Alys. Dylan had mentioned something about a war, and every war she'd ever heard of besides the Cold War involved some sort of attacks on one another. Though, neither Dylan nor the men with guns across the living room from him were making any moves to actually shot anyone. It reminded her of the western movies and at any moment Dylan and the gray suit would pull guns and try to shot the other first.

Drama, drama, drama.

A crash sounded in the kitchen and the suited men quickly averted their gazes to the location of the noise, giving Dylan enough time to 'jump' behind to of them and kick the guns out of their hands before appearing behind another whom he slammed his elbow into the man's throat. Alys watched as he fell to the ground, trying to breathe and saw Griffin appear behind another man with a golf club in hand and winced when he rammed the end of it into the man's eye and kicked him harshly in the stomach.

The two men whom Dylan had stolen the guns away from charged towards both Dylan and Griffin, reaching out to find air where both the boys had been seconds before. Both appeared behind the men and quickly had them on the floor within seconds. Dylan pushed his hair out of his eyes with a grin and turned towards the gray suit.

"Anything else you wanted?" He gave the slightly surprised suit no time to answer as Griffin jumped away and Dylan appeared behind Alys, quickly wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and jumped.

**Reviews are like heroine, feed the addiction.**


End file.
